Pat Thane graduated in Modern History from Oxford, then gained her PhD at LSE in the Dept of Social Science and Administration. She was, successively, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader in Social History, Dept of Social Sciences, Goldsmiths College, University of London; Professor of Contemporary History, School of Social Sciences, University of Sussex, 1994-2001, Chair, History Subject Group ,1998-2001; Leverhulme Professor of Contemporary British History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, 2001-10; Emeritus Professor, University of London; Research Professor in Contemporary British History at King's since 2010.
She became a Fellow of the British Academy, in 2006, was Hon. Treasurer, 1992 – 6 and Vice-President, Royal Historical Society, 2005-8; Vice-President International Economic History Association, 1998-2002. Chair Social History Society President since 2016: Peer Review College, ESRC, 2002 - 2011, Peer Review College, AHRC, 2004-2013. Member of Editorial boards: Twentieth Century British History, 1990 - 2012 (Chair, 1998-2008); Geneses, Sciences Sociales et Histoire (CNRS Paris) 1990 - 2000; Cultural and Social History , 2003 - 2014; Labour History Review, 2005 - 2012.
Visiting Professor, Nanjing University, China, September-October 1994, September 1997, August 2010, May 2015.
Distinguished Visiting Professor, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, Oct-Nov. 2006.
Visiting Professor, Kyoto University, Japan, Nov-Dec 2010.
Member, Expert Review Panel, Review of Research in UK Department of Work and Pensions, May- September 2011.
Member,International Review Panel on Collaborative Research Projects: History. Danish Council for Independent Research, March-May 2012.
Visiting Professor, Macquarie University, Sydney Australia, Nov-Dec 2012.
Visiting Professor, Catholic University, Valparaiso, Chile, September 2014.
Visiting Professor, Wuhan University, China May 2015.
Teaching:
she teaches on the MA in Politics and Contemporary History: modules on Welfare and the State in Britain 1900-1945, 1945-present and contributes to modules on politics and society since c. 1900.
She currently supervises six PhD students and has supervised many to successful completion on aspects of 20th century British social and political history including on aspects of social policy, gender relations and the history of the labour movement.